Fahrenheit 451... is the temperature at which books burn? This story takes the reader into the future, where nobody needs books anymore. Books may ask questions that often lead to revolution. According to the Ray Bradbury's knowledge of the past, which is recorded in books, can prevent us from making similar mistakes in the present and the future. In Fahrenheit 451, the books are prohibited by government laws and the job of the firemen is to start fires instead of putting them out. The main character Guy Montag was different from the other firemen because he showed the reader that he wanted to change the bad habit of burning books. He showed us how important books are in our life. Today what we see in our present world can be compared with the world in "Fahrenheit 451."
One night, while Montag is walking home from a day's work, he meets this "odd," bright girl, named Clarisse McClellan. As an idealist, she hates the social structure of the society she lives in. She says that firemen once put out fires instead of starting them. Montag thought this to be nonsense. He never thought he was doing anything wrong until he talks to Clarisse, who said that people weren't always afraid of books, that books made people brighter and they couldn't imagine life without them. Books were in the past and they fulfill our life today.
The author is talking about the future, but today people are already living similar lives to the one described in the book. They watch television, and they forget that there are more interesting things to do, like reading books. People are flying through their life with the speed that does not allow them to notice the greenness of the forests, the blossoms of the fields, star-lit nights, the sounds of rippling rivers, and the songs of the birds. They do not have time "for crazy thoughts." Clarisse makes Montag see dew on the grass, which makes him quite irritated, because he never noticed it before. He just never thought about the small things, they were never important to him. The only important thing was book burning, which he did every night for money.
In today's world, people are not reading for pleasure anymore. Most of the information we are getting from computers and television. We've traded books for a more technical world. Television is undoubtedly one of the most powerful means of communication in the history of humankind.
Clarisse, as well as Faber and Granger, represent the more thoughtful minority population. As perceived in the book, Clarisse is a young, free-spirited, curious individual who somewhat enlightens Montag. From their first encounter, Clarisse introduces Montag to different styles of thinking. Clarisse’s remarks such as “the leaves smell like cinnamon,” (Pg. 13), initially make Montag feel uneasy but then curious as to why she would know this. Montag mentions that she is one of first people trying to uncover more about him. Montag seems refreshed by Clarisse, which in turn make him question his relationship with Mildred. Their initial conversation is the focal point of the book, revealing to the audience that Montag is different and more capable of thinking. Additionally, Bradbury makes it seem like the other characters who don’t question society such as Mildred and Beatty, are threatened by Clarisse and her way of thinking. Mildred acknowledges Montag and Clarisse short friendship in a harsh way and is glad to mention to Montag that Clarisse has been killed at the end of the first chapter. Clarisse’s character is assumed to have been hit by a car and killed during the middle of the first section. Although her role in the novel is fairly short, her first few meetings with Montag make a huge impact on the story
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 was first published in 1933, and its story entails a futuristic world in the middle of a nuclear war. The totalitarian government of this future forbids its people from reading or taking a part in other acts that involve individual thinking. The law against reading is, presumably, fairly new, and the government is faced with the enormous task of destroying all of its citizens' books. This disposal of books is the profession of the main character, Guy Montag, who is officially titled a "fireman." He and his crew raid libraries and homes, burning any books they find before dozens of overjoyed onlookers. Throughout the beginning of the novel, Montag appears to be a ruthless, detestable human being. Surprisingly, however, it is Montag who emerges as the protagonist at the end. Montag is a dynamic character; he is constantly learning, changing, and keeping the reader interested. Ray Bradbury is able to incorporate careful details and ideas which change the reader's opinion of Montag and allow him to become the hero of the story.
Clarisse infers what happens when censorship continues to be allowed. She is a strong character used to alter Montag’s thinking. Clarisse tells of a near utopic time years before when there were porches on houses, families and neighbors socializing, and having a book wasn’t illegal, before government control began by taking the porches off the houses to prevent socializing. That first action evolved into book burning enacted censorship. Clarisse helps Montag open his eyes and see the world in a different way. She loves nature and tells him about things he had possibly forgotten. "Bet I know something else you don 't. There 's dew on the grass in the morning." He suddenly couldn 't remember if he had known this or not, and it made him quite irritable.” (Bradbury 3) She helps him realize that the government using censorship and denying the people the freedom of what they can read and the ability to learn is producing a stupid
Montag, a fireman who ignites books into glowing embers that fall into ashes as black as night. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury expresses a message in which society has opened their doors to mass devastation. Guy Montag, a “fireman”, burns houses that have anything to do with books instead putting fires out like the job of a real firemen. In Montag’s society, books are considered taboo, and owning books can lead to dire consequences. Ray Bradbury portrays a society in which humans have suffered a loss of self, humanity, and a powerful control from the government resulting in a fraudulent society.
451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper, more specifically books, burn. As a fireman living in a futuristic city, it is Guy Montag’s job to see that that is exactly what happens. Ray Bradbury predicts in his novel Fahrenheit 451 that the future is without literature -- everything from newspapers to novels to the Bible. Anyone caught with books hidden in their home is forced out of it while the firemen force their way in. Then, the firemen turn the house into an inferno. With pride, Montag carries out just that...Until one day he meets a young girl of seventeen who changes his mind about everything. Clarisse McClellan knows many things that Montag has never considered. For instance, she recites poetry, the ideas of great philosophers, and most importantly, facts about the world’s history. When she first speaks to Montag of these illicit things, he is taken aback and begins to question all that he has been told. Not trusting his current knowledge and cursed with a burning curiosity, Montag begins collecting books from the fires. One by one he reads the books, but they make no sense to him and he looks to others for help. Unfortunately, Clarisse mysteriously disappeared and is later reported dead. But, Montag did not give up. He soon remembers an old retired English professor, Faber, he met one year earlier. Faber jumps at the chance to help Montag and together they venture into the unwelcoming world to try to show others the importance of knowing their past. In light of these facts, one theme of this story, it is not necessarily the eldest, who is the wisest, can be found in the relationship between Clarisse and Montag. The relationship that they have is somewhat difficult to figure out completely; they are so far apart in age, yet they seem as if they are in love with each other, or at least with what the other has to offer. For example, Montag is astounded by the information and opinions that Clarisse has to offer while Clarisse is interested in Montag’s experiences as a fireman. Another theme could be Anne Bradstreet’s quote “If we had not sometimes the taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome”, meaning that unless one has bad experiences, the good ones can be taken for granted. This quote proves to be true in
As Montag continues his journey to enlightenment, similar to the prisoner, he progresses to the stage of belief, embodied by Clarisse. Montag initially meets Clarisse, a social outcast, while walking home from work one day. From their first encounter, he notices that she constantly questions society and the ways of the world. They begin to develop a friendship but it is abruptly cut short when she suddenly disappears. One day, about a week after her disappearance, “[h]e didn’t know what there was about the afternoon, but it was not seeing her somewhere in the world. [....] [A]t first he did not even know he missed her or was even looking for her, [...] there were vague stirrings of dis-ease in him. Something was the matter, his routine had
... ideas in books and understand them. Before this Montag never questioned the way he lives, he was blinded by all the distractions. The role that Clarisse plays in the book enables Montag to break free of the ignorance.
Henry David Thoreau, a famous American author, once said that “What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?” Essentially, Thoreau is saying that even though people are normal, we as a society are not and have various faults. Ray Bradbury reflects upon Thoreau’s ideas in his novel entitled Fahrenheit 451. Despite that fact that Bradbury is describing how society might look in the future, he is actually criticizing the society we live in today. In the novel, Guy Montag, the protagonist, realizes that his supposed utopian society is actually a dystopia. Montag finally realizes this when Clarisse, his young neighbor, asks him if he is happy. Although Montag believes that he is happy, it becomes clear later in the novel that he is not. Montag finds countless faults in his society. Throughout the novel, Bradbury’s goal is to warn the reader of faults in society, such as the education system and our attachment to technology.
This idea seems to be important because according to Clarisse, most people are afraid of firemen. It appears to be something that is obvious, but Montag is unaware of this issue. It may be that he is oblivious to his surroundings or that all firemen are convinced that what they do is for the greater good of the world. Also, this part introduces the type of person that Clarisse is. She seemingly looks like an outcast of society, or maybe just someone different. She’s unique because while most wouldn’t want to appro...
Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, is based in a futuristic time where technology rules our everyday lives and books are viewed as a bad thing because it brews free thought. Although today’s technological advances haven’t caught up with Bradbury’s F451, there is a very real danger that society might end up relying on technology at the price of intellectual development. Fahrenheit 451 is based in a futuristic time period and takes place in a large American City on the Eastern Coast. The futuristic world in which Bradbury describes is chilling, a future where all known books are burned by so called "firemen." Our main character in Fahrenheit 451 is a fireman known as Guy Montag, he has the visual characteristics of the average fireman, he is tall and dark-haired, but there is one thing which separates him from the rest of his colleagues. He secretly loves books.
Clarisse is a young, but intelligent girl that, unlike many children in the novel, was raised with discipline. “I was spanked when i needed it, years ago.” Clarisse said to Montag referring to how she was raised. Kids used to be loving and caring, but now it’s not like that anymore. The world is a dystopia and everyone has lost hope, but Clarisse, her family, a group of hobos who want to join the fight for books, and a secret team of Harvard graduates. Clarisse met a man named Montag, who is a firefighter that burns books down along with the house they were in if the owner of the books refuses to reveal their location. Clarisse walked with Montag, right after they had met, and told him of the many things life has to offer that he doesn’t see because he is caught up in burning books for a living. She caught Montag’s emotions and this is what ultimately ended up with Montag deciding he was going to stop burning books and even help the Harvard graduates memorize and spread the words and knowledge of the books that remain. Clarisse filled Montag with empathy and this changed Montag’s view of life
When Montag meets Clarisse, his neighbor, he starts to notice that there is more to life than burning books. Montag states, “Last night I thought about all the kerosene I have used in the past ten years. And I thought about books. And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of those books” (Bradbury 49). It begins to bother Montag that all he has done for the past years is burn books. He starts to rethink his whole life, and how he has been living it. Montag goes on to say, “It took some men a lifetime maybe to put some of his thoughts down, looking around at the world and life and then I come along in two minutes and boom! It is all over” (Bradbury 49) Before, Montag never cares about what he has been doing to the books, but when he begins to ignore the distractions and really think about life he starts to notice that he has been destroying some other mans work. Montag begins to think more of the world
451 degrees, the temperature at which paper burns. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, people are emotionless and powerless against the controlling government; the book describes a destructive, dystopian society. Guy Montag, the main character goes through a change throughout the book on his views of his society. Montag’s society is like a rock on the edge of a cliff, bound for destruction. His society lacks curiosity, emotions. and government control.
The lost of connections with people, and when people don’t think for themselves can lead to a corrupt and violent society. Thats why in the novel Fahrenheit 451, Montag learns that when thinking for your own self you can achieve your goals. Having connections with other people like Clarisse and Montag is a good thing and not bad. They both learn that thinking different and have a real connection with other people can help society and not turn it into a corrupt and violent society.
Some characters like Montag did not succumb to the ignorance of society. Unlike Mildred characters like Montag believed in the power books and knowledge. Montag was once like Mildred until he met Clarisse; his neighbor. Clarisse was different from anyone Montag had ever met. She made him question his career, his happiness and even his marriage. After talking to Clarisse, Montag realizes he’s been ignorant for his whole life and begins a dangerous search for knowledge. After eventually stealing a book and reading it Montag realized that knowledge is really important. Books symbol knowledge because they provide their readers with information they did not know prior to opening the book. Montag no longer believed that ignorance was bliss “”. Through Montag’s fight for knowledge Bradbury is able to help the readers to understand that people are afraid of knowledge because they fear making mistakes. “You’re afraid of making mistakes. Don’t be. Mistakes can be profited by” says Faber (Bradbury 104). Knowledge is gained from experience. The best and worst sides of Montag were revealed during his journey because he made mistakes and learned from them. At the end of the novel Montag like readers comes to the realization that knowledge and experiences is the true meaning of life.